Gallwch gofrestru nawr! Caiff ein digwyddiad Llyfrau Byw ei gynnal ddydd Mercher 23 Mawrth rhwng 13.00 a 15.00. Llenwch y ffurflen gofrestru i roi gwybod i ni â phwy hoffech chi siarad a phryd byddwch chi ar gael.
Mae grŵp gwasanaethau cynhwysol, SAILS a Ffydd a’r Gymuned @BywydCampws yn cydweithio i gyflwyno digwyddiad Llyfrau Byw drwy Zoom a gynhelir ym mis Mawrth 2022. Mae hyn yn dilyn ein digwyddiad llwyddiannus a gynhaliwyd ym mis Tachwedd 2020, ‘Byd Beiddgar Newydd: Gwytnwch a Chymuned.
Nod y digwyddiad yw hyrwyddo deialog, lleihau rhagfarn, ac annog dealltwriaeth trwy ryngweithio dynol. Bydd Llyfrau Byw yn rhannu profiad personol neu safbwynt ar fywyd arwyddocaol. Gall ymwelwyr â’r digwyddiad fenthyca Llyfr Byw gyfer trafodaeth bersonol sy’n para am 15 munud pan gânt eu hannog i ofyn cwestiynau a dysgu mwy am stori’r Llyfr Byw.
Bydd y broses gofrestru’n agor ar 23 Chwefror pan fyddwch yn gallu gofyn am sgwrsio â’n Llyfrau. Dyma ein Llyfrau Byw sydd wedi’u cadarnhau:
Morgan Clark
Like a lot of people, when I was born society assumed I would be cisgender, neurotypical, straight and monogamous. I turned out to be none of these things. I grew up in the Channel Islands struggling with bullying and depression from a young age - eventually I moved to Swansea for university and never left. I found and lost friends, relationships, jobs, dreams, but most importantly I let go of the moulds I had been given and learned how to live a life where I am nothing but completely myself.
Mohsen Elbeltagi
There were many challenges I had to face when moving to the UK. As I came from an Arab culture and Muslim society, I found it very challenging to be familiar with the British culture and different faiths environments.
I was convinced by my surroundings that the idea or perception of the western society such as the UK was quite negative. I had many thoughts on whether society would accept me for my religion, and I was afraid of getting judged and treated differently from others. This is due to my influenced thoughts of the UK not being welcoming and often judging of others and ethnic minorities. Over the first years of my experience in the UK, my viewership and speculations expeditiously changed. So I would like to share with my readers the challenges that I have faced and my own personal experience, specifically how I have overcome and built upon them.
Laura Madden
I was one of the first whistleblowers in the Harvey Weinstein Scandal
When I was 21 I got offered my dream job working for a major film company. It was to be my first proper job. I walked into the room, expecting to meet the boss to secure the job, and hours later walked out, broken by what happened to me in that room. I was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. I worked for his company for 8 years, all the time feeling shame, guilt, depression and slowly lost all my ambition and confidence. 17 years later, having left the film business completely, and now a single mother with 4 children, I receive a phone call out of the blue, A New York Times journalist asks me if I will help her in her investigation to uncover years of sexual crimes against women, at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. I had thought it was only me. I was spurred on by my children to go public as they saw it as my duty to help change the culture. What followed was an opportunity to transcend that dark period of my life into something more positive, something that might hopefully change the future for other women. I went on record with one other woman in the first publication exposing Harvey Weinstein’s crimes. The MeToo movement gained momentum and the world started to listen to women’s collective stories of sexual harassment. It has been a long and painful path but am hopeful for a better future for my three daughters and young women everywhere.
Felicity McKee
From being part of the ceasefire generation and growing up in a society that was navigating what it meant to be post-conflict, while also dealing with conflict at home due to abuse, my formative years have been one of struggle and triumph.
In addition to the legacy of violence, my identity as a queer disabled person has also involved navigating around forms of emotional and social violence through assumptions about who I am as a person. It was only recently that equal marriage and abortion access was extended to Northern Ireland, prior to that every time I flew home from University, I lost many of the rights I enjoyed while in Swansea.
I’ve spent much of my twenties within academic circles, trying to get my qualifications while studying within institutions that are filled with barriers such as structural ableism. I’ve had to leave courses on medical leave, with little to no support and had to fight for alternative assessments and accessibility even though institutions have a legal responsibility to provide them. This has led to me sitting on Disabled Students Committees for NUS both nationally and regionally within N.Ireland (NUS-USI), consulting with businesses on how to improve accessibility and lobbying for improvements within higher and further education but also across society as a whole.
I’ve had to be politically engaged from a young age. The personal is political and although my focus tends to be on disability rights, my activism work extends to climate change, LGBTQIA+ and abortion access. My identities overlap, and this is true for many. Liberation groups must work together as until all of us enjoy equal rights, the fight continues.
Dai Nguyen
From Refugee to Reconstructive Surgeon - The journey of a Boat person
My family arrived in this country as Vietnamese refugees in 1979 with nothing apart from the clothes we were wearing. I was 4 and remember the cold hitting my flip flop toes as we walked down the aeroplane steps. My mother was pregnant with her 5th child, my youngest brother and I wonder now what she was thinking when we landed to safety in the UK.
I grew up on a council estate in SE London. We had a loving family life but never played outside for fear of being racially abused. In Vietnam both my parents were university educated and were middle class. In the UK my parents worked hard and instilled in us the importance of education as an avenue to opportunity and escape from poverty. We got scholarships, we went to university, we succeeded.
I went to Bristol university to study medicine because I didn't know what else to do and thought it would be a sensible choice. I did my surgical training in the South West before arriving on the shores of Swansea. I completed my Plastic surgery training before fellowships in Sydney and Vancouver. I was appointed as the first female Plastic Surgery Consultant in Wales in 2010. I specialise in Breast Reconstruction and Burns. I've had a lifetime of people telling me I can't and I want a lifetime of telling people they can.
Dr Gareth Noble
Being me, Well-Being me
One of my favourite quotes comes from my grandfather when I asked him what the meaning of life was, and he said, “Life is simply a collection of stories that should entertain everyone around your death bed”. Over my life, so far, some of my stories are tall tales that highlight the highs, and some are rooted in the trauma of past experiences that reflect the lows. They ebb and flow as waves of emotion between the hilarious to the sorrowful.
I grew up in province that was essentially two countries in one, two communities that were divided along cultural and political identities, you were either loyal to the crown or wanted to unite as one Ireland. These contrasts of identity are ones that can define you and empower you, but it can also confine you. The sense I have of my own identity was born out of living through that conflict, this balancing act of being a Catholic growing up in a largely Protestant town is at the core of being me.
As time has move on, my sense and experience of my own identity has evolved as it has been moulded and shaped by the positive and negative experiences I have lived through, but it remains a constant balancing act that when it becomes ‘wobbly’ it affects my wellbeing. I am a father, a partner, a working carer, an educator, a campaigner, an advocate, a neurodiverse individual, a dyslexic academic, a scientist, a proud Irishman and proud Ulsterman – how I became the me that I am today, well that is a collection stories for me to tell that will hopefully entertain you.
Registration is open! Our Living Books event is happening 13.00-15.00 on Wednesday 23rd March. Please complete the registration form to let us know who you’d like to talk to and when you’re available.
The inclusive services group, SAILS and Faith & Community @CampusLife are working together to present a Living Books event via Zoom in March 2022. This follows on from our successful event in November 2020, A Brave New World: Resilience and Community.
The purpose of the event is to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding through human interaction. Living Books will share a significant personal experience or perspective on life. Visitors to the event can borrow a Living Book for a 15-minute personal conversation during which they are encouraged to ask questions and learn more about the Book’s story.
Confirmed Living Books are:
Morgan Clark
Like a lot of people, when I was born society assumed I would be cisgender, neurotypical, straight and monogamous. I turned out to be none of these things. I grew up in the Channel Islands struggling with bullying and depression from a young age - eventually I moved to Swansea for university and never left. I found and lost friends, relationships, jobs, dreams, but most importantly I let go of the moulds I had been given and learned how to live a life where I am nothing but completely myself.
Mohsen Elbeltagi
There were many challenges I had to face when moving to the UK. As I came from an Arab culture and Muslim society, I found it very challenging to be familiar with the British culture and different faiths environments.
I was convinced by my surroundings that the idea or perception of the western society such as the UK was quite negative. I had many thoughts on whether society would accept me for my religion, and I was afraid of getting judged and treated differently from others. This is due to my influenced thoughts of the UK not being welcoming and often judging of others and ethnic minorities. Over the first years of my experience in the UK, my viewership and speculations expeditiously changed. So I would like to share with my readers the challenges that I have faced and my own personal experience, specifically how I have overcome and built upon them.
Laura Madden
I was one of the first whistleblowers in the Harvey Weinstein Scandal
When I was 21 I got offered my dream job working for a major film company. It was to be my first proper job. I walked into the room, expecting to meet the boss to secure the job, and hours later walked out, broken by what happened to me in that room. I was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. I worked for his company for 8 years, all the time feeling shame, guilt, depression and slowly lost all my ambition and confidence. 17 years later, having left the film business completely, and now a single mother with 4 children, I receive a phone call out of the blue, A New York Times journalist asks me if I will help her in her investigation to uncover years of sexual crimes against women, at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. I had thought it was only me. I was spurred on by my children to go public as they saw it as my duty to help change the culture. What followed was an opportunity to transcend that dark period of my life into something more positive, something that might hopefully change the future for other women. I went on record with one other woman in the first publication exposing Harvey Weinstein’s crimes. The MeToo movement gained momentum and the world started to listen to women’s collective stories of sexual harassment. It has been a long and painful path but am hopeful for a better future for my three daughters and young women everywhere.
Felicity McKee
From being part of the ceasefire generation and growing up in a society that was navigating what it meant to be post-conflict, while also dealing with conflict at home due to abuse, my formative years have been one of struggle and triumph.
In addition to the legacy of violence, my identity as a queer disabled person has also involved navigating around forms of emotional and social violence through assumptions about who I am as a person. It was only recently that equal marriage and abortion access was extended to Northern Ireland, prior to that every time I flew home from University, I lost many of the rights I enjoyed while in Swansea.
I’ve spent much of my twenties within academic circles, trying to get my qualifications while studying within institutions that are filled with barriers such as structural ableism. I’ve had to leave courses on medical leave, with little to no support and had to fight for alternative assessments and accessibility even though institutions have a legal responsibility to provide them. This has led to me sitting on Disabled Students Committees for NUS both nationally and regionally within N.Ireland (NUS-USI), consulting with businesses on how to improve accessibility and lobbying for improvements within higher and further education but also across society as a whole.
I’ve had to be politically engaged from a young age. The personal is political and although my focus tends to be on disability rights, my activism work extends to climate change, LGBTQIA+ and abortion access. My identities overlap, and this is true for many. Liberation groups must work together as until all of us enjoy equal rights, the fight continues.
Dai Nguyen
From Refugee to Reconstructive Surgeon - The journey of a Boat person
My family arrived in this country as Vietnamese refugees in 1979 with nothing apart from the clothes we were wearing. I was 4 and remember the cold hitting my flip flop toes as we walked down the aeroplane steps. My mother was pregnant with her 5th child, my youngest brother and I wonder now what she was thinking when we landed to safety in the UK.
I grew up on a council estate in SE London. We had a loving family life but never played outside for fear of being racially abused. In Vietnam both my parents were university educated and were middle class. In the UK my parents worked hard and instilled in us the importance of education as an avenue to opportunity and escape from poverty. We got scholarships, we went to university, we succeeded.
I went to Bristol university to study medicine because I didn't know what else to do and thought it would be a sensible choice. I did my surgical training in the South West before arriving on the shores of Swansea. I completed my Plastic surgery training before fellowships in Sydney and Vancouver. I was appointed as the first female Plastic Surgery Consultant in Wales in 2010. I specialise in Breast Reconstruction and Burns. I've had a lifetime of people telling me I can't and I want a lifetime of telling people they can.
Dr Gareth Noble
Being me, Well-Being me
One of my favourite quotes comes from my grandfather when I asked him what the meaning of life was, and he said, “Life is simply a collection of stories that should entertain everyone around your death bed”. Over my life, so far, some of my stories are tall tales that highlight the highs, and some are rooted in the trauma of past experiences that reflect the lows. They ebb and flow as waves of emotion between the hilarious to the sorrowful.
I grew up in province that was essentially two countries in one, two communities that were divided along cultural and political identities, you were either loyal to the crown or wanted to unite as one Ireland. These contrasts of identity are ones that can define you and empower you, but it can also confine you. The sense I have of my own identity was born out of living through that conflict, this balancing act of being a Catholic growing up in a largely Protestant town is at the core of being me.
As time has move on, my sense and experience of my own identity has evolved as it has been moulded and shaped by the positive and negative experiences I have lived through, but it remains a constant balancing act that when it becomes ‘wobbly’ it affects my wellbeing. I am a father, a partner, a working carer, an educator, a campaigner, an advocate, a neurodiverse individual, a dyslexic academic, a scientist, a proud Irishman and proud Ulsterman – how I became the me that I am today, well that is a collection stories for me to tell that will hopefully entertain you.